Method of manufacturing liquid crystal display device comprising a black matrix resin and ball spacer solution

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and corresponding LCD device are disclosed. An ink-jet apparatus is provided with a solution containing a black matrix resin and ball spacers. The solution is then coated on a predetermined portion of a substrate by the ink-jet apparatus. This permits formation of both a black matrix layer and ball spacers at the same time, with the ball spacers provided in only a non-pixel area of the substrate.

1. A method of manufacturing an LCD device, the method comprising:
 providing an ink-jet apparatus having a solution containing a black matrix (BM) resin and ball spacers; 
 coating the solution on a non-pixel area of a substrate using the ink-jet apparatus; 
 drying the solution to simultaneously form a black matrix layer in the non-pixel area and the ball spacers only in area covered by the black matrix layer; 
 forming a color filter layer on a pixel area of the substrate; 
 forming an alignment layer on an entire surface of the substrate including the black matrix layer and the ball spacers in the non-pixel area and the color filter layer on the pixel area; and 
 providing an alignment direction to the alignment layer on the substrate by performing 
 a photo-alignment method. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing another substrate opposite to the substrate; and 
 forming a liquid crystal layer. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein providing the other substrate comprises:
 forming gate and data lines crossing each other on a transparent substrate, so as to define a unit pixel region; 
 forming a thin film transistor adjacent to a crossing area of the gate and data lines, the thin film transistor including a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode; and 
 forming a pixel electrode connected with the drain electrode of the thin film transistor. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein forming the liquid crystal layer comprises bonding the two substrates to each other after dispensing liquid crystal on one of the two substrates. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 2 , wherein forming the liquid crystal layer comprises injecting liquid crystal to a space between the two substrates after bonding the two substrates to each other. 
     
     
       6. A method of manufacturing an LCD device, the method comprising:
 coating a predetermined non-pixel area of a first substrate with a solution containing a black matrix (BM) resin and ball spacers; 
 drying the solution to simultaneously provide both a black matrix (BM) layer in the non-pixel area and the ball spacers only in area covered by the black matrix layer; 
 forming a color filter layer on a pixel area of the first substrate; 
 forming an alignment layer on an entire surface of the first substrate including the black matrix layer and the ball spacers in the non-pixel area and the color filter layer on the pixel area; 
 providing an alignment direction to the alignment layer on the first substrate by performing a photo-alignment method; 
 providing a second substrate opposite to the first substrate; and 
 forming a liquid crystal layer. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the BM resin is sufficiently thick such that as the BM resin sets, neither the BM resin nor the ball spacers substantially impinge on a pixel area of the first substrate. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 6 , wherein coating the first substrate with the solution comprises dispensing the solution onto the first substrate using an ink-jet apparatus. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 6 , wherein forming the liquid crystal layer comprises bonding the first and second substrates to each other after dispensing liquid crystal on one of the first and second substrates. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 6 , wherein forming the liquid crystal layer comprises injecting liquid crystal to a space between the first and second substrates after bonding the first and second substrates to each other. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first substrate is a thin film transistor substrate. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first substrate is a color filter substrate. 
     
     
       13. A method of manufacturing an LCD device, the method comprising:
 providing an ink-jet apparatus having a solution containing a black matrix (BM) resin and ball spacers; 
 coating the solution on a non-pixel area of a first substrate using the ink-jet apparatus; 
 drying the solution to simultaneously form a black matrix layer in a non-pixel area and the ball spacers only in area covered by the black matrix layer; 
 forming an alignment layer on an entire surface of the first substrate including the black matrix layer and the ball spacers in the non-pixel area of the first substrate; and 
 providing an alignment direction to the alignment layer on the first substrate by performing a photo-alignment method; 
 forming a gate line, a data line and a thin film transistor on a second substrate opposite to the first substrate; and 
 forming a color filter layer on a pixel area of the second substrate.